Modern sports facility for city

EVERY update on the ongoing construction works of the Davao City- University of the Philippines (UP) Sports Complex is a welcome development since Dabawenyos have waited decades for a modern sports facility they can call their own.

The UP-Mindanao public relations officer Rene Estremera said the Campus Planning and Development Office reported last week that the Multi-Purpose Human Kinetics Gym is 93 percent complete while the Football Stadium Phase 1 is 75 percent complete.

"The Football Stadium Phase 2 is 30 percent done while the civil works and other facilities of the football field and track oval is 11 percent complete," Estremera said.

He added that a meeting with engineers was held this week.

The Multi-Purpose Human Kinetics Gym will serve as a training gym equipped with standard and modern sports facilities and may cater to indoor sports.

The Football Stadium that will have a 30,000-seating capacity and will meet the minimum requirement of Fifa, world governing body of football, may soon host the national and international competitions.

The overall design concept of the completed stadium shall display the "Olew," a simple turban worn by T'boli men.

The Football Stadium Phase 2, whose contractor is Bislig Venture and Construction, Incorporated, will connect to the Football Stadium Phase 1 that is being constructed by Lotrim Builders.

Civil works and other facilities of the football field and track oval, whose contractor is Algon Engineering,

was allocated a budget of P50 million from the 2015 GA Act of the UP System. It will have preparatory work for the installation of a football field with a Fifa-accredited artificial turf and a synthetic running track oval.

Aside from these, the P80 million Aquatics Center Phase 1, which also broke ground last February, is one of the components to be funded by the P150 million construction of the sports complex building from the 2016 GA of the UP System. It shall feature the cultural and economic significance of water in Mindanao and its form from the iconic boathouse of the Sama tribe or Badjaos\Designers also took a T'nalak pattern, "Bwengkel" that means crocodile. Phase 1 will cover the 50-meter olympic-sized swimming pool with a portion for bleachers.

A 25-meter warm-up pool and 20-feet diving pool will complete the Aquatics Center but these two facilities have no budget yet.

The inclusion of a diving pool will be helpful to revive Davao City's dominance as the city boasts of Dabawenyo diving Olympians Sheila Mae Perez, Zardo Domenios and Rexel Ryan Fabriga. The three were just among the be-medaled Dabawenyo divers who brought pride and glory for the Philippines in the past.